NT Radio Broadcasting Aboriginal Voices

About 40 years ago, possibly the only time you could hear Aboriginal languages spoken or sung in public was at church, says musician Warren H. Williams.

But that changed when the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association launched in 1980.

Mr Williams, who has worked at CAAMA radio in Alice Springs for almost 20 years hosting daily music and talk shows, says the separation of Aboriginal languages from institutions was crucial.

“Any language spoken is a free language,” he told AAP.

“It’s keeping the language and culture alive. A lot of languages and cultures are dying around the world, so quick, so fast. And this is really saving it.”

Station manager Gerry Lyons says CAAMA has the second-largest reach in the country, after the ABC, with an average of 640,000 listeners at any given time.

The network has a radio station, a TV and film production branch, and a music label, but Mr Lyons says the most important work it does is training young Aboriginal people and those living in remote areas, helping them share the stories of their own communities.

“It’s been fought for so long, the need to have representation, to have a platform and a voice when no one else seems to want to listen, to be able to tell their story, their truth, their way,” he says.

“To be given the opportunity to tell their story their way is empowering.”

He says CAAMA helps indigenous and non-indigenous communities Australia-wide hear each other’s news, both good and bad.

“The sense of self-esteem that grows from that … They will sit down and listen to that story on their radios, in their trucks, in deserts, remote regions,” he says.

“Radio, it’s still in the vehicle, it’s still out there on wireless, in the desert, by the riverbed when people are fishing. They want to listen to their community voice, they want to listen to what’s happening in their region, they want those stories to be told.”

The future of indigenous broadcasting lies with the youth, Mr Lyons says, and CAAMA recently launched a multimedia youth training program.

Participants are initially attracted by the prospect of meeting high-profile people and looking good for their communities, he said, but could go on to work in film, TV or music production, sound engineering, or administration.

“Those who feel normal schooling isn’t for them but they have a confidence and a cheekiness that they feel they want to get out there and be the best DJ in the world, but they want to talk in their language, whether it’s street talk or community language, we want to give them that platform and not shoot them down.”

Whether they stay or leave CAAMA down the track, he says, “at least they can hold their head up high rather than looking at the ground all the time”.

Mr Williams says he loves working at the radio station.

“It’s my saviour, really, it saved me from doing a lot of stupid things … probably be drinking or in jail (otherwise).”

He said he hopes CAAMA will do the same for other young Aboriginal people.

“If you make one person smile you’ve done your job. Every now and then someone rings me up and says, ‘oh, it so good to hear,’ and I think, ‘good, someone’s listening’.”